Nigella Caught Faking It

British food diva Nigella Lawson is in the doghouse with fans after it came to light that some sets on her show were faked, and an episode that featured a bus ride to the grocery store was filmed on a bus rented for the occasion and filled with extras hired to sit around and pretend to read the newspaper.

This revelation comes on the heels of the discovery that, although her shows are presented in such a way that one believes they take place in her Eaton Square mansion, the interiors are filmed in a rented home in South London. As an article in the Daily Mail reports, “this has resulted in a minor backlash with dozens of annoyed viewers writing critically about her show on the BBC’s online viewer message boards.” One angry viewer says it’s “[a]nother example of the TV execs conning the gullible public!”

This has led to questions as to whether the “friends” who sit down to eat Nigella’s culinary creations, at the end of the show, are really her friends in the first place—or just hired actors. The article reveals the shocking truth: “The ‘friends’ are what is termed as ‘invited guests’ rather than Miss Lawson’s bosom buddies.”

Gasp, shock, horror.

Call me a cynical American, but I never would have expected otherwise.

And there are certainly fans who feel the same way: that the fake sets and fake friends are all much ado about nothing.

I personally couldn’t care less if Nigella went to the shops in a carriage made from a pumpkin and pulled by a host of fairy mice. Let the food do the talking!

Then there are those who really get to the meat of the matter: It’s not about rental sets, or even food. As one commenter put it: “As long as I get pictures of rubenesque Nigella … I don’t care.”